Questions on portability/battery for CPAP

[PregnantWithOSA]

Thank you for posting this. It was very helpful for me. I need the humidity and portability and it’s good to hear from someone who has had experience with this machine.

I have a AirSense10 and a AirMini. I recently bought the Medistrom Pilot-24 Plus with the additional Co-Pilot-24 for a flight to India because AirFrance wanted me to carry a battery I never used. The Medistrom requires an additional cable package for the airmini( includes DreamstationGo as well) I've used my AirMini/Medistorm for a recent boy scout camping trip and only used the Co-Pilot, so I think I could have done two nights with around 6 hours of usage each night. My machine runs APAP at around 14-15CM. As they are 24 volt batteries, no converters required. The only thing I don't like about the Medistrom was the in-ability to silence the alarm which I could do on the C-100 battery. I also have a older C266 that I have used with boy scouts, but its too big for in-flight use/carry, that battery was/is multi-night for the S9/S10. The C100 was generally < 1 night, on my S9. I also have a 50lb AGM battery sitting in the garage that I bought many many years ago when I first got my cpap and used with my S8.

The like the size of the airmini. I can fit it in my large laptop bag and not carry a separate bag for the CPAP when I travel. I have an eBags professional flight laptop bag. However as a mouth breather, I prefer having humidity and will take my Airsense 10 if I'm on a long trip and checking my bag. I've tried the suggested workaround to use the Z1 HME, but didn't seem to make much of a difference with the F20 mask I have. Since the Mini is only 20Watts of power, it will work better with airplane power and draw less power from the battery than the 75 watts the S10 requires. I didn't see a smaller power brick like the S9 has.

As folks mention you can certain carry the 3rd bag, but I find it a hassle which is why I like the AirMini. Is it worth the $900, not really sure, certainly didn't need it, its only a convinence, but I travel 1-2 times per month, so it certainly reduces the amount of stuff I'm carrying around. I like that i have a backup machine now as well.

[Holden4th]

If you are flying the first thing to do is check with the airline if you can use your PAP via their power supply. Emirates, sadly, do not allow you to do this though I got away with it on the outward leg of my journey to the UK last year. This was probably because of where I was seated and the location of the power plug. It wasn't the case on the way back so I won't fly long haul with Emirates again. The reasons they gave were laughable, wanting you to use a big lithium ion battery instead to avoid a fire risk. Go figure. I'm due to go back to the UK next April and will stick with good old Qantas who will allow me to use their power points - albeit in business class.

The medistrom looks good but 19 Amp Hours isn't that great. That said I can run a fridge freezer on a 32AH battery overnight for two nights.